Favorite charcoal?

stlcharcoal · April 2019

Big chunks sometimes mean undercarbonization. There's a reason that chunk is so big: It's either been handled very VERY good, or there's still a bunch of wood fiber in it holding it together.....and that wood fiber means smoke and ash. And if that undercarbonized piece is something from the walnut, cashew, or other dense nut wood family (like what you find a lot of in South America), then that smoke is going to be pungent and bitter.

Properly carbonized charcoal is brittle......you can break it apart by hand. If you can't do that, it's not charcoal. So, this 30 minute "burn off the VOC's time" is you turning it from "charred wood" into "charcoal" in your kiln/BGE. So you're not only buying a lower BTU/# product, but then you are wasting some of those BTU's just to cook the remaining tars and liquors out of it. It a waste.

Chunk size doesn't change the burn time in a close vessel like a BGE where O2 is being metered. E=mc2. It only can cause flame outs by the charcoal settling and clogging the fire grate. A simple piece of expanded stainless steel or a Kick Ash Basket quickly solves that problem and can free you from this marketing scam of "Gigantic-Chunk Super-Dense Charcoal" (which in some cases is nothing more than blackened firewood.)

StillH2OEgger · April 2019

The char-broil center cut does go from ignite to clean burning faster than any charcoal I have ever used. I did, however, find the box annoying to work with and while I'm not preoccupied with size there was an unusually high amount of dust and tiny pebbles of charcoal in the box. I could see keeping some around for weeknight grilling if you're in a hurry, but it's not better than the Rockwood and I haven't felt the need to get a second box.

frazzdaddy · April 2019

A buddy of mine has an oyster bar and restaurant where he cooks mostly on wood. He uses Nature Glow and offered to get it in bulk for me. I believe it's RO repackaged as well, but at 15.00 for a 30lb bag hard to say no to. Been through 3 bags and have been pleased so far.

mEGG_My_Day · April 2019

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2423107#Comment_2423107

I used to use nature glow almost exclusively. I think it’s a great product for the price. I’m mostly using Rockwood now, but occasionally use nature glow, especially for clean burns and cast iron seasoning. I have some of the new Ozark Oak, but I haven’t tried it yet.

surveyor · April 2019

the two best I have found and I use them exclusively are Parker Brothers and Rockwood. Both top quality and worth the price. If you have a top quality grill and smoker like the Big Green egg if does not make sense to buy inferior charcoal. But if something works for you that is great

lkapigian · April 2019

I finally have Rockwood literally across the street from,my house , if He than that I've had no issues with Royal Oak

DS_14 · April 2019

@Legume ,@gonepostal thank you! I allowed for ample stabilization; I appreciate the feedback. I was looking for a quick response to see if anyone had similar issues.